It later became the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, an umbrella body for charities in England.

[2][3] He was born on 10 August 1884 at Bowden Hall,[nb 1] Upton St Leonards, Gloucestershire, the third, and youngest, son of Dearman and Emily Jowitt Birchall.

[1] Birchall attended school in Sunningdale, Berkshire, from 1893 to 1898 and Eton College from 1898 to 1903.

He graduated from Magdalen College, University of Oxford with a BA in 1908.

He died on 10 August 1916 and is buried in France, at Étaples Military Cemetery near Boulogne.